côté

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ko.te/^[1]

Forms

côté m (plural côtés)^[1] Old French costet, costé; the Académie wrote costé in 1694 and 1718, côté from 1740.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French costé, inherited from Vulgar Latin *costātum, a derivative of costa (“rib; side”), the source of côte.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} The Vulgar Latin form is reconstructed from its Romance outcomes and is made likely by the classical adjective costātus, used by Varro of oxen “with good ribs”, that is, strong.^[3][4]

Classical Latin used latus for “side”; its Old French outcome “lez” was displaced by “côté” in the 15th century.^[4][5] Cognate with Old Occitan costat, Catalan costat, Spanish costado and Italian costato.^[7][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1100 the Chanson de Roland uses it for the side of the chest and of the whole body: Ma bonne espée que ai ceinte al costet “my good sword that I have girded at my side”.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The bodily sense lived until the 17th century and survives in point de côté, a stitch.^[4] From about 1260 it named the side of a thing, and in the 13th century the side of a geometrical figure.^[3][4] Froissart used it for one part of something as against another (second half of the 14th century), and in 1409 it meant a party or faction.^[3] La Rochefoucauld used it for an aspect of something (1664).^[3]

Phrases followed: de costé for collateral inheritance (1283), à côté (1580), à côté de (1690), regarder de côté (1690) and laisser de côté (1787).^[3][4] In the theatre côté cour and côté jardin are the right and left of the stage.^[4] Colloquially it is used as a preposition: côté santé, “as for health”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Costet, the side of the body, in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• c. 1260 – The side of a thing, in Rutebeuf.^[3]
• 1283 – De costé, of collateral inheritance, in Beaumanoir.^[3]
• 1409 – The sense “party, faction”.^[3]
• 1580 – À costé in Montaigne.^[3]
• 1664 – The sense “aspect” in La Rochefoucauld.^[3]
• 1787 – Laisser de côté in Féraud.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The side of the body: avoir mal au côté, point de côté, a stitch.^[8][3]
2. The side of a thing, as opposed to the middle: les deux côtés de la route.^[9]
3. (geometry) A side of a figure.^[3]
4. An aspect of something: le bon côté des choses.^[3][1]
5. A direction, part: du côté de la gare, de mon côté, as for me.^[1][8]
6. A party, camp: être du côté de quelqu'un.^[3]
7. À côté, à côté de: nearby, next to, mettre de côté, to put aside.^[1][3]

Preposition

1. (colloquial) As for, in terms of: côté travail, tout va bien.^[1]

Related words

• côte
• coteau
• latéral

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)